Jackson EMC Foundation awards $26k

L-R Jackson EMC Gainesville District Manager Bill Sanders (left), along with Jackson EMC District Office Supervisor Mark McClain, who serves on the Salvation Army of Gainesville Advisory Board, and Jackson EMC Foundation board member Christy Moore, present a $12,000 check to Lt. Matt Cunningham of the Salvation Army of Gainesville that will help provide emergency shelter and community meals.

JEFFERSON - The Jackson EMC Foundation, a charity funded by the donations of the cooperative’s members through the Operation Round Up program, has awarded $26,200 to four agencies that provide programs or services to area residents.

*$12,000 to the Salvation Army – Gainesville to assist with the costs of providing Emergency Shelter to prevent homelessness and community meals for families and individuals who are struggling; the agency provided 7,577 nights of shelter and more than 10,000 meals last year.

*$8,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Hall County to help purchase plumbing and electrical materials and labor, insulation and a heat pump for one of four homes the affiliate plans to construct in the county this year.

*$5,000 to The Healing Place of Athens, which provides a residential drug and alcohol recovery program for homeless men from all counties in Jackson EMC’s service area, to purchase recovery program materials and supplies.

*$1,200 to CASA Enotah, which serves Lumpkin County by training community volunteers who represent the best interests of abused and neglected children, to help upgrade the data management system.

The Jackson EMC Foundation, founded in 2005, has put nearly $6.9 million back into local communities, funding 670 grants to organizations and 241 grants to individuals. Cooperative members participating in Operation Round Up have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar amount, with the “spare change” going to the Foundation.

Any individual or charitable organization in the ten counties served by Jackson EMC (Clarke, Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe) may apply for a Foundation grant by completing an application, available online at http://www.jacksonemc.com/foundation-guidelines or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.